Because political indoctrination is a parent’s responsibility

Some folks are worried that their little snowflakes are going to get a heavy dose of propaganda when the president speaks to their kids today. And they think propaganda should come from the home. Looks to me like he’s giving one of those stay in school speeches so I’m not that concerned. Not quite sure what all the hubbub is about, except partisanship.

20 Responses to “Because political indoctrination is a parent’s responsibility”

My daughter has a viral thing (nose, throat, temeperature) so I’m keeping her home today. Too bad, she would have enjoyed the break from schoolwork for the three minutes or so that she paid attention to the speech.

She also had drafted letter for her teacher to forward to the President:

1. I simply don’t trust Pres. Obama as far as I can throw him. He lies, lies, and lies again, and he thinks that people like you and me are stupid and/or evil. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near my kids.

1a. On the other hand, letting my kids see this increasingly-boring egotist drone on with platitudes for 15-20 minutes might be good for them.

2. Since when was education a federal concern? If my governor wanted to have an opening-day speech I’d probably be okay with it, and even if Pres. Obama wanted to speak to federal schools (such as on military bases), it might be okay. In the absence of some national crisis like Pearl Harbor or 9/11, it shouldn’t be done (and was wrong when George H.W. Bush and Reagan did it).

First, there was a lesson plan that asked stuff like “How can I help the president?” and “Why should I listen to (elected officials)?”.

The lesson plan, since withdrawn, was a paean to how great gov’t is. Do you trust teachers to also ask students when they should distrust gov’t? Or do you think they would be all enthusiastic about how great gov’t and Obama are?

Then, he wouldn’t release the speech. People didn’t trust him to not be political. With good reason, he hasn’t stopped campaigning. He’s always political.

Also, consider the timing, would you say it’s ridiculous to think that maybe he would have a bit about helping all Americans to get healthcare?

I know it’s not in there, but he released the speech after the hubbub.
And after watching him work for the last year, the way ‘controversial’ things silently disappear from his websites when they cause a problem, the way inconvenient people are dumped, the way he can never be seen to be wrong what with his and Gibbs’ usual, “who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” statements….

I would be absolutely unsurprised if the speech was “fixed” to take some health-care stuff out.

I would actually be more surprised if the speech wasn’t “fixed”.

It’s a matter of trust, and he doesn’t have it.

And if it was just some “back to school” speech, why is he giving it when the schools in NYC, L.A. and Boston are not yet in session?

It’s not the speech, it was the worksheet. 20 minutes for some quasi-important dude to tell the kids to stay in school / don’t do drugs / keep it in their britches / etc. isn’t a concern. Yes, those things are my responsibility and I’d prefer I’d be the one to tell my kids about them, but it’s not like they’re going to be listening anyway.

But the worksheet on writing letters on how one can help the president (redacted, now…) or “Why should we obey the wishes of our masters” kind of shit is just creepy. Nothing in there about “Do you agree with the President’s ideas? Explain.” or any sort of indication that government is not a one way, top down chain of command.

I originally was going to take my girl out. Then I realized that it would be better for her to observe, then be a good parent and explain how things really work when she gets home. What appears to be the Swine Flu has made all that moot.

The thing I can’t figure out is why Arne Duncan is getting a free pass in all this furor. Here’s a guy who bused 30,000 Chicago school kids out of their schools to Soldier Field on a school day last summer to listen to rappers and musicians . . . oh, yeah, and also take part in a political rally demanding more gun control and more money for Chicago schools from the state.

AND put out a press release claiming that the whole thing was organized by school kids . . . .

AND later bused kids from several of Chicago’s high schools to the state capital on a school day so they could lobby for more gun control and more funding for Chicago schools . . . .

AND is now the Secretary of Education under Barack Obama. Obama’s speech is clearly not creepy political indoctrination, but Arne Duncan is a past master of the art of creepy political indoctrination and exploitation of children entrusted to his care. It’s wacky. I can only guess the national figures don’t know about this, but it’s no secret. I’ve got the local ABC affiliate’s footage embedded.

Not liking him is one thing, but seriously guys freaking out about the speech like this only makes it easier for our political opponents to call demonize “us” ‘wingnuts’ ‘crazy right wingers’ etc. later on, and hurt our chances on an issue that actually matters. And yeah, of course the speech is for his political benefit, 99% of politicians would sacrifice a virgin on live TV if they thought it’d help their re-election chances.

Need to learn to “pick your battles” – getting worked up over this doesn’t benefit anyone and just makes it easier for democrat politicians to say things like “the right wing has a record of opposing Obama on every issue, they are racist and hate him and dont care about x issue…”, etc